


Back On Earth

by Callaeidae3



Series: KWmonth (Keithtober x Whumptober) [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Post-Season/Series 07, Recovery, Season/Series 07, kwmonth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-09 10:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16448117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callaeidae3/pseuds/Callaeidae3
Summary: KWmonth prompts: Pilot/Shiro/Garrison/Black Lion/Space Craft (Pilot: Keith's POV)/Free Day (Shiro: Shiro's POV)A collection of all the KWmonth prompt fics set in Season 7.Pilot/Space Craft: After piloting the team (and crash-landing) to Earth in the Galran ship, Keith has to be pulled from the wreckage.Shiro/Free Day: Voltron arrives at the Garrison and Keith becomes a target.Garrison: Krolia returns to Earth and is reminded of why she left.Black Lion: Shiro carries Keith out the Black Lion. Black doesn't stop watching over Keith.Retitled from 'Black Lion'.





	1. Pilot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After piloting the team (and crash-landing) to Earth in the Galran ship, Keith has to be pulled from the wreckage.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

\--

One by one, the team crawls out of the back of the ship. Romelle rubs her arm, Lance his head. Hunk stumbles away from the group to puke. Shiro helps Allura to her feet as Pidge and Kosmo slip out of the cargo hold before them. Coran follows.

No one emerges without a bruise somewhere on their body, but the fact that they all get out alive is a testament to Keith's skilled piloting. Even with two arms, Shiro doesn't think he could pull off a descent like that.

"Great flying there, Kei..." Shiro trails off.

There's no sight or sound of Keith. . Shiro's heart plummets faster than the ship did. He turns around -

The cockpit is crushed.

Pidge screeches when she sees the damage. "Keith!"

They've just set foot on their home planet for the first time in years, but there's nothing to be had but multi-language swearing, mildly controlled panic and a silence from the cockpit that there shouldn't be.

Kosmo flashes and reappears at the front of the ship. He whines as he searches for a way in and finds none.

Shiro and Pidge are the first to move after Kosmo, circling around to the front of the ship. Shiro can't breathe.

The panels are bent inwards or otherwise buried in the earth, the nose of the ship a mess of twisted metal. The vacuum proof windshield is cracked and it's shape distorted, and the underneath of the ship appears to be less than half a metre from meeting the roof.

Inside all of that is Keith.

Pidge activates her Bayard and gets her calculative face on. "Hunk, get over here!"

Pidge and Hunk talk engineering and formula. If the descent had made Hunk queasy, there's no telling what he must be feeling now. Unexpectedly though, it's Shiro who loses his lunch instead.

Without his arm, he can't do anything. The helplessness shakes him to the core. That arm may have nearly killed Keith but the lack of it might also. It's not like they can just pry the ship open with their bare hands -

"Keith!' Lance yells. "Whatever you do, don't move!"

The red Bayard becomes an Altean broadsword. He carefully wedges the blade in a narrow gap between the windshield and a screwed up panel, then shifts to let Hunk step in beside him. Pidge readies her Bayard and nods.

The metal groans. Hunk and Lance lean their weight into the handle of the broadsword. As soon as the leverage starts working the metal and the windshield apart, Pidge powers up her Bayard and begins cutting one of the panels from the wreckage.

Kosmo barks. Everyone freezes.

A strip of teal can be seen through the small gap. It takes a moment before Shiro registers what it is.

Paladin armour. Keith.

Allura joins in the effort, lifting Pidge up on her shoulders to get to the top of the panel. Coran and Romelle urge Shiro to stand back a little, to give them a bit more room, but Shiro finds he can't. He can't move. He won't.

There's still no response from Keith. Lance keeps calling his name, shouting reassurances that they're working as fast as they can to get him out of there. Kosmo won't stop barking.

A dented panel gives. Pidge and Allura peer inside the gap to make sure of where Keith's at before ripping the panel free.

Light floods into the cockpit. Keith slumps over the damaged console, pinned there by a great slab of metal presumably from the caved in roof. Unlike the state of the ship, though, Keith's armour remains in tact.

Coran pats Shiro on the shoulder.

Pidge braces her hands on either side of the window. "Keith! Hey, can you hear me?"

No movement, but a weak groan.

"Keith? Are you with us?"

"..n't 'ea'e..."

"Keith?"

Kosmo whines.

"I think he said he can't breathe, Pidge," Lance says. His hands shake as deactivates his Bayard. "He's not...?"

Shiro pushes past Coran and Romelle to get a closer look. His hearts beating horrendously fast, but when he finds he can't see anything impaling Keith's body, and that it's just because his stomach is pressed so hard against the console, he relaxes slightly.

"We need to remove what's pinning him down," Shiro says as calmly as he can manage. "He can't breathe because his diaphragm can't expand properly."

Keith whimpers.

"You're going to be fine, Keith. Just hang in there another minute or so."

Pidge frowns. "You realise that means we have to remove the entire roof."

Hunk's eyes widen. "But won't that - "

"Yes, it will."

The roof is too heavy to lift without cutting it into smaller pieces first, but doing so would mean risking the other pieces collapsing in on Keith, making it harder again to get him out and only increasing the likelihood of injuring him.

"Then we drag him out," Lance says.

Pidge opens her mouth to argue but Lance cuts her off.

"You and Hunk keep the roof up while Shiro, Allura and I manouvre Keith out of there." He pauses, then leans over the window. "You don't have a leg stuck or anything, do you?"

Keith manages a whispered, "No."

"Alright, then that's the plan. Let's hurry up. Pretty sure Keith doesn't want to spend the next however long waiting for us to discuss science. Romelle, Coran - be ready to help Hunk and Pidge if they need it."

A smile creeps across Shiro's face. Lance, truly stepping into the role of Keith's right hand man. He'll make a great leader someday.

It's slow going and nerve-wracking, but after fifteen minutes of careful manouvring, they pull Keith free of the wreckage. He's shaking and slightly on the hysterical side of relief to be out in the open and able to move again, but there's no serious harm done. After spending a few minutes collapsed on the ground regaining his breath, Keith's back up on his feet again.

Looking over at the wreckage, Shiro can see once again the kind of pilot Keith is. He'd made sure that the ship took the impact for them, the result of which has them all still standing, bruised and a little shaken, but uninjured. But had the ship been accelerating even a couple of metres per second squared faster, it would've been Keith taking the damage for the rest of them as well.

Shiro's too relieved to put into words how glad he is that it didn't come to that.

 

 


	2. Shiro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back on Earth in Season 7, Voltron arrives at the Garrison and Keith becomes a target.

Keith busies himself petting Kosmo while Shiro and Iverson talk. He wishes Krolia could’ve come back to Earth with them, but he knows how important it is for her and Kolivan to gather the remaining Blades and he knows this time that his mother will come back to him.

 _At least you got to come back with me,_ Keith thinks at Kosmo.

The wolf whips his head around, snarling –

Something punches Keith in the neck.

Kosmo doesn’t waste time. A flash and he’s teleported back inside the vehicle they just arrived in. Keith rolls out of his crouch, hunkering down behind the seats right at the back, away from the windows.

Keith’s heartbeat pounds inside his head. His neck  _hurts_. He has a suspicion why, but he raises a shaking hand to where it stings to check.

_Quiznak._

His fingers meet a dart the size of a pen. Keith inhales sharply and yanks it out with a grimace. There’s too much adrenaline – and something else – rushing through his veins to try to remain calm. His vision’s already growing fuzzy. His mouth’s starting to feel dry.

He calls out the only word that’s always at the tip of his tongue.

“Shiro!”

Keith fights the drug. The dim lighting of inside of the vehicle doesn’t help. Outside, Iverson’s barking orders and familiar voices are enraged. He thinks he hears Lance’s bayard as his eyelids shut against his will.

Heavy footsteps make the vehicle floor vibrate. Keith panics, forcing his eyes open to see a great shadow reaching out for him  _but his muscles are refusing to move and –_

“..eith, it’s just me. It’s ..ro. Keith. Keith!”

His eyes are shut again. He doesn’t know when that happened, but he knows it’s Shiro. There’s chaos outside, but that chaos is protecting him.

Shiro’s protecting him.

Kosmo’s…

“..ay ‘ith me. Kei…! ..-nak…’!”

…

 

“ – fast acti – “

“Who would – “

“…liser?”

…

“…he's Galra..”

..

 

“Keith?”

“-iro, stay wi’..’im?”

..

“’ow long?”

“’ould wear off in…hours”

A jumble of syllables.

 

 

Keith groans. Brain fog…so much brain fog. His head hurts like…a brick?

A familiar voice is talking to him. He knows whose it is, he just can’t seem to pinpoint it. The tone of the person’s voice is low and gentle, meaning that they’re not in present danger. But there’s an edge of anger to it, something that that voice doesn’t often carry.

Shiro. Shiro’s angry. But not at Keith.  

At someone else.

A hand grips his. Keith’s not sure if it’s Shiro’s or not, but Shiro’s voice is telling him that he’s safe and he’s going to be okay and something about upping security and..

That’s all Keith hears before he fades out again.

 

 

His mind’s a lot clearer when he wakes the next time. He tells his eyes to open and they actually do.

He’s lying on a medical bed somewhere in the Garrison (judging by the colour scheme on the walls). There’s a thin blanket laid out over him, coming up to the waist of his flight suit. An IV drip is connected to a needle slipped into the back of one hand.

Keith’s head lolls a little when he looks sideways. The headache…aches.

Shiro smiles at his out-of-it expression. “Hey, Keith.”

He groans. “Wh’h’ppen’?”

“What happened?”

“Hnnngh.”

“Some moron took a shot at you with a tranquiliser. Kosmo got to show off his teleporting and Lance got to show off his sharpshooting skills in front of his family. Uhh…what else?” Shiro tilts his head to the side, thinking. “Oh yep, and Allura and Pidge took care of said moron’s little getaway party waiting to swoop in.”

Keith’s not really following. He can tell Shiro’s rambling a little, though, and he only ever talks excitedly when he’s coming down from an adrenaline rush and overwhelmed with relief.

_The moron probably had him worried._

Shiro leans forward in the bedside chair with a half-hearted laugh. “It was you I was worried about, bud.”

Oh. He said that out loud.

Keith frowns. Shiro’s acting so out of character it’s concerning. It must’ve been quite a scary ordeal for the others if Shiro’s like this.

“That’s because you were out cold for most of it,” Shiro explains. “They had that tranquiliser loaded. They were prepared.”

“Prep’r’d?”

“Sam had to warn everyone that you might set off the Galra presence sensors. A handful of people – all who we apprehended just before – didn’t like the idea of having you on Garrison premises.”

“Oh…”

Shiro lets out a sigh.  _He’s starting to calm down now,_ Keith thinks, and the words remain inside his head. He’s beginning to understand why Shiro’s been worried, though – clearly the drugs in that tranquiliser weren’t just for knocking him out.

They’d been planning on taking him and making him talk.

Whatever the specific reason and why, Keith’s just beyond grateful for everyone for getting him out of there. He says as much. Kosmo could’ve only have gotten him so far. It’s because the others didn’t hesitate to take action and take out the ‘morons’ who had planned to take Keith from their midst…

“There’s no way we would’ve let them take you,” Shiro murmurs. “I might only have one arm, but that’s not stopping me from stopping them from getting to you.”

Keith forces a smile to his lips. “As many times as it takes.”

Shiro nods. “You got it.”

The door to the medical room slides open, revealing a stressed, relieved and tired group of paladins. Coran and Romelle wait outside so as not to overcrowd the room.

“You,” Lance says. “You had us all  _freaked out,_ man!”

Pidge dives forward to wrap her arms around Keith’s shoulders. She mutters something under her breath about a physics formula and the ‘morons’.

“It’s certainly good to see you awake, Keith,” Allura murmurs.

There’s a great amount of concern in her eyes, and Hunk doesn’t seem to be able to wipe the shock from his face.

Keith frowns. “It was bad, wasn’t?”

“You’ve been out for five and a half hours,” Shiro offers.

 _Five…?!_ Keith’s eyes widen a fraction.

Shiro grimaces. “They were out to get you.”

Pidge withdraws from hugging Keith so that he can see the fury in her eyes.

“But they’re crow-food now,” she says tightly. “No one messes with my family. No one.”

Other things are mentioned. Other things are elaborated on. But it’s the spear of Pidge’s words in his chest that Keith can’t shake off.

Family. She just called him her family and no one argued – even when her half her biological family are nearby on base.

He’d been a little lonely stepping out of the vehicle to meet no one. But now Keith realises that it’s because he arrived at the Garrison with not just someone, but a whole entire found family of someone’s – people who had his back when he couldn’t watch it himself.

Keith can’t help but smile warmly at that.

 

 


	3. Garrison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krolia returns to Earth and is reminded of why she left.

As the rebel ship emerges from the hyper-jump, Krolia understands once more why she left.

Half of the Garrison is reduced to rubble.

The surrounding land is scarred with craters and scorch marks. Clouds of dust drift over the desert. And there, a twisted hunk of metal lying a small distance from the Garrison base, is Sendak’s battle cruiser.

This is why she left. It was inevitable that the war would eventually wind up involving Earth, but things could’ve turned out a whole lot worse.

Because she left, the Empire never discovered the Blue Lion. Instead, Keith did.

Because she left, Voltron was able to stall Zarkon’s expansion of the Empire and start liberating planets. They were able to give the resistance the foothold they so desperately needed. The Blade of Marmora were able to start fighting back for real. The rebel forces were able to unite.

Because Krolia left, Earth stood a chance of surviving.  _Keith_  stood a chance of surviving.

And now, after leaving him a second time, the war she’d tried to stall almost killed him.

 

The base is a flurry of activity. Humans are busy organising teams for various duties.

Krolia and Kolivan lead their band of Blade of Marmora agents through the midst of them. Their presence sets the majority of them on edge, but the stares they receive are not hostile. Wary, for sure, but not accusing.

It’s a means for relief. Tensions would’ve been running a lot higher had she shown up at this base when she arrived here twenty-three…no, twenty-five or -six years ago.

It brings back memories. Of a fireman who sheltered her from the desert winds and the curious eye of his people. Of nights wrapped up in the warmth of his arms, listening to the unfamiliar words spoken by a voice that soon became familiar.

But that's all they are now: memories.

As the Blades walk in off the tarmac, masks lowered, Shiro greets them with tired smile.

“Krolia. Kolivan,” he says. “It’s good to see you two again.”

Unconsciously Krolia finds herself scanning the sea of faces for him, as though hoping the visions she saw on the space whale and the stories Keith told of growing up an orphan weren’t true.

But there’s no Kogane waiting for her here. Not even her son.

Kolivan inclines his head. “It is good to meet again.”

Shiro nods an acknowledgement to the Blades trailing behind, then shares an indescribable glance with Kolivan and Krolia.

“Keith still hasn’t woken up yet,” he says, voice significantly quieter. “We’re hoping he’ll come around soon, but there’s no certainty as to when.”

Kolivan turns slightly so that his shoulder is open to Krolia. It’s a subtle gesture, one that doesn’t involve eye contact.

“Go to your son,” he says.

Krolia’s at a loss for words, both personal and political. She wants to object, defaulting to ‘mission before the individual’. But there is no mission at present. There is little they can do to help with in repairs at this stage and, if Krolia’s learned anything about Kolivan, it’s that he wants to see how Keith’s doing, too.

 _Kolivan’s giving me time alone with him,_ she realises.

Just like how he sent them on a lengthy mission right after Krolia’s extraction, or rather, right after mother and son came face to face for the first time in eighteen years.

Shiro turns to the hangar entrance. "Let me show you the way."

 

She follows Shiro wordlessly through the hallways of the Garrison complex.

People salute as they walk by, eyes wide at the sight of Krolia following close behind. She wonders if it looks like she’s scowling to them. If she is, there’s little she can do to fix it.

Krolia’s not exactly in the best of moods at present: the memory of her blade’s light dimming is still fresh in her mind.

The door is open.

A shadow trots across the floor and Kosmo peers around the door. His ears perk up when he sees Krolia. Shiro’s expression morphs into something unreadable as he looks inside.

Krolia joins them and her gut twists.

He’s lying in the kind of sleep someone can’t be roused from. A bandage wrapped tight around his head and a mask over his face to help him breathe. The only movement is the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Shiro quietly takes his leave.

“Keith,” Krolia whispers. She follows Kosmo over to his bedside. “Keith.”

Her son doesn’t stir; he continues sleeping away. Krolia lays a hand over his. She studies the needle in the inside of his arm for a moment before she can look at his face again.

It’s not like she’s never seen him asleep. But this…this isn’t just asleep. It’s unconscious. It’s comatose. It’s different.

She misses the light in Keith’s eyes. Yearns for all the expressions she’s seen him make, the voice that sounds so much like hers and so much like his father’s. The way he squares his shoulders when he gets defensive. The scowl he wears when he’s deep in thought.

Kosmo rests his head on the bed and huffs out a breath.

All they can do is wait.

 

Kolivan navigates his way through the Garrison a varga later. He slips in without a word and settles down on the bench opposite Krolia.

While Kolivan updates her on the Garrison’s current plan of action, consisting mostly of repairs and rebuilding the coalition, Krolia absent-mindedly rubs her thumb over the back of Keith’s hand. Every now and then Kolivan’s gaze drifts to Keith’s face and lingers there a dobash or two, conversation cutting out.

During one such moment, a medic comes in. He does what he needs to, checking over Keith and deciding he’ll be fine without the oxygen mask from now on - then leaves in a hurry.

Kolivan smirks a little at that, in a very Keith-like way.

With all important matters spoken of, they fall into a comfortable silence.

Krolia wonders what would’ve become of them had she not crashed her ship that night. She stands by what she said to Keith’s father all those years ago: it was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to her.

It is, after all, how she came to meet Keith.

 

 


	4. Black Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of Season 7, Shiro carries Keith out the Black Lion. Black doesn't stop watching over Keith.

He’s lost in a vast expanse of black. There’s a presence. It surrounds him. If he were to drift further into it, maybe he’d see stars.

Whatever it is, it won’t let him go there.

 _But it’s safe there,_ Keith protests.

The presence doesn’t answer. Instead, it gives him a glimpse of the starry expanse he wants to be brought into. Only a glimpse – and then it’s gone.

It’s denying him the ability to enter.

 _Alive,_ it says.

 

An unperceivable length of time passes. Keith’s not sure how long.

There’s a numbing pain in his left arm. He looks down to see what’s bothering him but he can’t see it. There’s a terrible throbbing in his forehead. He’s unsure of how the hurt got there, but it’s too concentrated and too weird a place to be a headache, though.

The pain in his arm gets worse. The ache in his head is horrendous. Keith’s not sure what it means or why it’s happening or how long it’ll last.

All he does is linger in this black.

A tug in his chest.  _Black._

_Keith._

Familiar. The presence – Black – reassures him that he’s safe, that he doesn’t need to worry about remembering anything just now.

_Rest._

She sends him visions of planets and clusters of stars. The emptiness in his chest is filled with air. A wind washes over his body.

It seems so tangible that Keith wonders if this is only partly being conveyed by Black.

What if the rushing of air over his skin is real?

Somewhere he hears voices, but he’s not sure if they’re real. He’s not sure if  _he’s_ real. For some reason he believes he isn’t. That if he is, he shouldn’t be.

Then the voices get louder. Urgent. One of them is achingly familiar but Keith’s gone before he can remember whose voice it is.

Gone… but where has he gone?

_Rest._

After checking Keith over for injuries, Shiro gently manoeuvres him out of the pilot’s seat and into his arms. The Black Lion’s on a lean, so now he’s bracing both his own weight and Keith’s against the tilt of the floor, but Shiro manages alright.

The shock is setting in really fast. Shiro needs to get Keith out of the Lion before his legs give way. He shuffles along, arms locked around Keith’s chest, and makes it out of the cockpit.

Keith’s entirely unresponsive. He says as much to the medical team waiting outside Black when he gets there. He lowers Keith so that he’s lying on the ramp. The two medical staff get to work with their assessing, helmet pried off to press a cloth against the cut at his hairline and to place an oxygen mask over the lower half of his face. Shiro slips out of the way and nearly crashed into Iverson and Griffin.

Somehow Shiro’s still standing. Iverson has a steadying hand on his shoulder. One of the medical staff turn to Shiro and ask something. They have to say it twice before Shiro registers what the question is.

_Right, his armour. They won’t be able to treat him with the armour still on._

There’s only been one time – thankfully – where Shiro had to help one of the paladins out of their armour. It had been Keith, whose hands were shaking too badly after revealing to everyone he was part-Galra. Shiro makes quick work of the arm guards, the belt, leg armour and the boots. Keith doesn’t even twitch.

When he comes to removing the chest plate, he proceeds extra carefully. The medical staff help him sit Keith up to get the back half off. There’s no changes in Keith’s breathing, an immense relief for everyone. The chest plate off, they check for broken ribs and find none. Shiro feels the colour start to ease back into his face.

Aside from extensive bruising and the cut on Keith’s head, the injuries of most concern appear to be the severity of concussion, the potential for internal bleeding and the coma-like state Keith isn’t coming out of. Shiro expects that the robeast’s komar resembling attack will be a major factor, but it worries him.

The other paladins weren’t out cold like this. Allura, Lance and Pidge had been responsive on retrieval, and Hunk had come around fairly quickly. Keith’s retrieval has taken the longest and he’s the worst of all of them.

“Shiro.”

He can’t lose Keith.

“He’s going to be okay.”

Iverson guides him back to the vehicle they came in. Shiro’s wide-eyed and staring and finding it hard to focus. James Griffin regards him warily as he takes the driver’s seat again. The medical team have Keith secured on a stretcher, and with Iverson’s help they load him into the back of the vehicle. Shiro climbs into the back with him while Iverson goes to retrieve the pieces of Keith’s armour.

“Shiro,” Griffin says, tone almost as gruff as Iverson’s. “He’s going to be okay. We just have to get him back to base.”

_‘Shiro, it’s going to be okay. We just have to get back to the Castle.’_

_‘We…aRE nOt GOing aNYWHerE!’_

Shiro looks down at Keith, face ashen beneath the mask and the bandage wrapped around his head. The mark on his cheek stands out like sharpie on blank paper.

It’s too much. Shiro winds down the window, leans over the panels on the door and retches.

He’s drifting again.

He no longer registers the pain in his arm but the pain in his head is still there. At least it’s easier to breathe now, so it’s bearable.

 _Black…_ Keith thinks.  _Who are you?_

Her presence is acting like an anchor. That means she’s important to him somehow and he’s important to her.

_Black?_

The memories are just beyond reach. Keith stretches out his consciousness to try to grab a hold of them.

_Blurry daylight. That’s all he’s able to see when he opens his eyes. It’s nauseating, the way the ceiling tips sideways above him. He squeezes his eyes shut. Keith comes awake to a sharp pain in his abdomen. He can’t move without it tearing at his insides. His throat is dry and his head feels like it’s filled with cement._

_Water. He needs water._ Why can’t he get it?

_The howling desert wind outside makes the dizziness unbearable._

_Water…_ and a strange longing to search.

Keith recognises another presence. But it’s not Black. It’s…

…blue?

Blue?

_The sensation of water rushing over him. It relieves him of the feverish strain on his body, alleviates his thirst and stops his mind from spinning._

_He’s sure he’s delirious. In his head…it’s like there’s a voice telling him to search. It’s not a human voice and it’s not his own head voice. It’s more of a presence._

Blue. That was Blue.

The memory blurs and rolls into another.

 

 

The heart monitor beeps, slow and steady.

 

 

 

 

 _He thinks he remembers passing out before the visions._ What visions?

 _Red is angry._ Red?

_When he hears her roar, feels the surge of her emotions and the weight of her fury, there’s a tug in his chest that brings him back to reality. An anchor in the midst of the confusion the visions brought._

Something stirs inside Keith. This connection with Red is the same kind of connection he has with Black now.

_Red calls for him. She roars for him._

_She’s attacking the Blade of Marmora’s base for him._

_It’s this, and a set of familiar yet urgent footsteps growing louder, that he wakes to._

The memory fades.

Those footsteps…how come they sounded like one of those voices from earlier? Did they belong to the same person?

Strong. Resilient. Courageous.

These are both his thoughts and Black’s. They both know this person. This person is important to them both.

Dead. Saved. Revived. Alive.

He’s someone who brings people a lot of hope. He’s someone to admire.

Leader. Brother. Friend.

Paladin.

SHIRO.

Keith hears him now. He hears his voice. His brain won’t register the words but he can hear Shiro talking to him.

_Why does he sound…sad? Worried? Tired?_

_Rest,_ Black tells him.

_But what about Shiro?_

_Rest._

Keith doesn’t understand. He wants to know why Shiro’s voice sounds so strained.

_Rest._

He concentrates but doesn’t get anywhere. Right…patience yield focus. Those are Shiro’s words, right?

Black draws him back to herself, back to her calm.

Back to her presence.

_Rest._

 

 


	5. Space Craft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 21. Pilot, from Keith's POV. Keith has to be pulled from the wreckage after crash-landing the ship on Earth in Season 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning note: this may be triggering if you have experienced something akin to being trapped in wreckage or rubble. If you're unsure, I'd suggest going back and reading Prompt 21: Pilot, and imagine that chapter from Keith's perspective - that'll give you an idea of whether or not this might be triggering for you <3

On the other side of the suffocating darkness, Keith hears Pidge's Bayard activate.  
  
"Hunk," she yells. "Get over here!"   
  
There's a lot of words being exchanged, but they're muffled by the walls of metal and reinforced windshield keeping Keith separated from them. The voices are familiar, so they ought to be reassuring, but...   
  
They're taking a while, which means it must be bad.   
  
Keith tries to stay calm. He tries not to focus on the unrelenting pressure on his back, how his torso's slammed into the console, one arm splayed across the dash and the other hanging down beside his leg.   
  
So far he's managed to keep the panic at bay, but the longer he spends with his head stuck facing sideways, the less he has control over that thought. Keith tries to take deep breaths but he physically can't, and when he tries to use his hands and feet to push himself away from the console, his knees and elbows hit metal.   
  
Even if he summoned his Bayard, he wouldn't be able to move his arms or get enough leverage with the blade for it to be of any use.   
  
Which means he's trapped and he can't do anything about it.   
  
The helplessness is about ready to crush Keith's resolve not to cry when Lance's voice sounds close to the wreckage.   
  
"Keith! Whatever you do, don't move!"   
  
A Bayard activates. The sound of metal on metal, but Keith can't see to know what's happening because his helmet's forcing him to face the other way.   
  
Keith flinches as the metal groans. It shrieks and shudders, sending tremors through the dashboard and through Keith's chest. He thinks he feels the pressure on the centre of his back increase and he fights to breathe evenly.   
  
There's a sizzling, humming noise as Pidge powers up her Bayard. Keith swallows hard and waits.   
  
The noise is... he can't find the words for it. He want to cover his ears but he can't. He wants to get away from the horrid vibrations of Bayard on metal on Paladin armour but he can't.   
  
He wants to get free but he can't -   
  
A sliver of light falls into the cockpit. Kosmo barks. The vibrations stop momentarily, but then they start again.   
  
The others are calling his name but he's too busy desperately trying to keep himself together for as long as possible.   
  
A tear slips down his check.   
  
His throat constricts with fear.   
  
Kosmo won't stop barking.   
  
Keith loses his calm. It's one of the things he fears the most: being trapped, unable to move and unable to get himself out of there.   
  
A panel gives. There's a pause and then it's ripped free altogether.   
  
Light floods into the cockpit. They can see him now, but Keith can't see them. Keith's glad they can't see the wrecked expression on his face though. He's horrified enough at himself already.   
  
"Keith!"   
  
It's Pidge.   
  
"Hey, can you hear me?"   
  
Keith chokes on the emotion in his throat and manages a groan.   
  
"Keith? Are you with us?"   
  
He sucks in a breath. "...n't 'ea'e..."   
  
"Keith?"   
  
Kosmo whines.   
  
"I think he said he can't breathe, Pidge," Lance says. He hesitates. "He's not...?"   
  
"We need to remove what's pinning him down," Shiro says. "He can't breathe because his diaphragm can't expand properly."   
  
_Shiro_. Keith whimpers.   
  
"You're going to be fine, Keith. Just hang in there another minute or so."

 

Just another minute. Another minute which will extend into another and then another...   
  
Pidge speaks next. "You realise that means we have to remove the entire roof."   
  
Then Hunk. "But won't that - "   
  
"Yes, it will."   
  
"Then we drag him out," Lance says. "You and Hunk keep the roof up while Shiro, Allura and I manoeuvre Keith out of there." He pauses, then comes closer to the gap they created in the wreckage, blotting out the light. "You don't have a leg stuck or anything, do you?"   
  
Keith can't turn his head in decline, so he whispers, "No."   
  
"Alright, then that's the plan. Let's hurry up. Pretty sure Keith doesn't want to spend the next however long waiting for us to discuss science. Romelle, Coran - be ready to help Hunk and Pidge if they need it."

Keith's biting back tears by the time someone's hand wraps around his wrist. Allura, Lance and Shiro are calling out reassurances to him and instructions along themselves, but Keith doesn't retain memory of any of them. He just concentrates on the firm grip around his wrist, the slow tugging at the collar of his armour, the slight lean he finds himself on as he's pulled sideways and watches his other hand slide along the dashboard with him.   
  
What he's later told is fifteen minutes later, his body is eased out from between the metal and the console that had had him sandwiched. His diaphragm expands. Keith draws a long, greedy breath of air - Earth air, as his helmet releases the air lock - and he wants to be sick with relief.   
  
Daylight and Earth air and space around him to move and people.   
  
Keith's shaking badly, and a mess of unstable emotions, but he collapses in the dirt of his home planet and just breathes.   
  
And breathes.   
  
He sobs. He can breathe.

Hands holding him steady. He can breathe.

 

 


	6. Free Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's POV of Prompt 26. Shiro. Keith is shot with a tranquiliser and Team Voltron are one frustrated family.

Kosmo snarls, Shiro’s heart jolts, and Keith gets shot in the neck with a tranquiliser.

Shiro only catches a glimpse of the alarm on Keith’s face before Kosmo zaps him off the tarmac. The rest of his thoughts desolve in action.

He scans the rooftops first, and sure enough, a figure is retreating from view. Lance sees it to, levelling his bayard – presumably set to stun – as Iverson orders everyone not Voltron or MFE squadron to the side of the building. Allura steps in front of Romelle and Coran, Pidge fires up her jetpack and Hunk shields the families running for shelter…

_But where is Keith?!_

Then he hears it, a strained voice calling his name. “Shiro!”

He’s launching himself inside the vehicle at once.

Keith’s eyes slip shut just as he enters. He’s slumped on the floor, limbs splayed out around him and the tranquiliser dart lying next to his hand. His eyes snap open again as Shiro makes his way over to him, Kosmo letting him past, tensing up as though bracing himself for an attack –

“Woah, Keith, it’s just me. It’s Shiro.”

His voice is all the reassurance Keith needs. The tension leaves him and his body goes lax.

“Keith.”

The muscles in his face grow slack, eyelids closing.

“Keith!”

His head lolls to the side. Shiro hastily grabs him by the collar of his armour to stop him from hitting his head on the floor.

“No, no, stay with me,” he says. “Keith! Stupid quiznaking idiots!”

Shiro’s a little shocked to hear himself swear so readily, but he’s angry. First they strap him down and now Keith’s been knocked out with a tranquiliser. This time it’s probably not the Garrison’s fault, seeing as Iverson was rather apologetic about how they treated Shiro and Sam didn’t seem to know what was happening, but it makes Shiro furious all the same.

“Shiro, Keith! You in here?”

Hunk appears in the vehicle doorway. As soon as he sees Shiro and Kosmo crouched in front of Keith, he turns and calls an affirmation over his shoulder. A few seconds later, James Griffin hops in and closes the door behind him.

James frowns. “Is he…?”

“If you’re here to drive,” Shiro says, “just do it. Questions later.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shiro sits down and pulls Keith to lie across him, his one arm securing him like a seatbelt as James puts the vehicle into gear. Hunk takes a seat next to Kosmo and hangs onto the seat in front of him.

Outside, there’s the sound of Pidge’s bayard powered high, a tyre popping and a shrieking pigeon. Shiro turns his comms on about the same time as Hunk, and Griffin gets to listen to the great frenzy of activity and commentation of a family whose brother was just taken down for no valid reason at all. Shiro almost expects Griffin to remark how noise their comms are, but if anything he looks unnerved.

_No one messes with their team._

Shiro feels a stir of pride in his chest at how co-ordinated everyone is. Lance immediately steps into his role of the right hand of Voltron, directing Pidge and Allura to take care of the party who shot Keith and the other MFE’s to clear a path for Griffin, Hunk and Shiro to get Keith to a medbay. No one questions him, not even the MFE’s.

Keith is out cold and Shiro can’t carry him with one arm, so once Griffin parks outside the emergency medical entrance, Hunk takes him on his shoulders with his shield extended over Keith’s head. Kosmo and Shiro follow close by, scanning left, right and centre. James brings up the rear.

There’s already medtechs waiting for them. Shiro gives them a stern eye.

“The wolf’s staying with him,” he says when one of the staff try to stand in Kosmo’s way.

“But sir – “

Kosmo flashes and teleports around them. He sits down by the bed Hunk’s laying Keith down on and he doesn’t move.

“Like he said,” Hunk growls. “Kosmo’s staying.”

Pidge is shrieking over the comms. “Shiro, do you copy?”

“Yeah, Pidge,” Shiro says. “I’m here.”

“We caught them. The dart was loaded with a fast acting sedative and a truth serum.”

“So they’d planned on taking him?”

Hunk mutters something under his breath. “Who would do that?”

“I don’t know,” Pidge says, “but they’re with the Garrison. Thought they could use him for some kind of negotiation with Sendak. Iverson’s taking them in for questioning now.”

Shiro steps to the side of the room to give Hunk room to shed Keith of his Paladin armour and the medtechs room to finish setting up.

“Was there anything in the tranquiliser besides what you just mentioned? Anything potentially toxic?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Pidge says. “Allura’s checking their getaway vehicle now. I’ll let you know –  _what the quiznak!_ If I get my hands on them again!”

Shiro exchanges a glance with Hunk.

“Pidge,” he says slowly. “Did you find something?”

“Just a massive coil of quiznaking rope!”

The moment she says it, Hunk frowns in horror. “They don’t know he’s Galra, do they?”

The medtechs stall. Kosmo growls, long and firm, and Shiro and Hunk join in with a warning glare. There’s no verbal communication between the two Paladins, but both of them decide that instant that they’re not leaving Keith without at least one of them by his side.

Fifteen minutes of checks later, Keith’s lying back with a blanket up to his waist and an IV in his hand. Griffin delivers them a message from Iverson saying that there’s going to be some debriefing of the situation in half an hour, but neither Shiro nor Hunk budge.

There’s a groan from the bed. Keith’s eyebrows twitch but he doesn’t wake.

Shiro moves to his side. “Keith?”

James Griffin is still waiting for some kind of answer.

“Shiro,” Hunk says tightly, “you’ll stay with him?”

The medtechs have just slipped out of the room to pack up excess supplies, but they’re still within hearing distance. Shiro makes the second meaning to his words loud and clear.

“I don’t want him waking up alone.”

 With a moment of silence that reiterates how they’re not going to let  _anyone_ lay their hands on Keith, Hunk leaves with Griffin. They keep the comms on.

“How long?” Shiro asks the moment the medtechs reappear.

“The sedative should wear off in a few hours,” one of them says.

Shiro’s brow furrows. “A few  _hours_?”

“The dose had a fairly high concentration of drugs in it. It’ll be a while before it’s out of his system, so I’d suggest we keep him here overnight.”

“You can monitor Keith if you like, but he’s staying with us. Is that clear?”

The medtechs stand to attention and salute. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. You’re all dismissed.”

They don’t linger. Shiro sits down in the bedside chair and takes Keith’s hand to reassure him he’s not leaving. Kosmo lies down with is head resting on his front paws, but he doesn’t close his eyes.

Shiro grips Keith’s hand and starts venting. He’s angry. He still blames himself for the harm his clone – this body – did to his little brother and Keith will always have the mark to remind him. As many times as it takes is what they say, and yet Shiro can’t help but feel like he’s failed Keith one too many times.

It’s not his responsibility to protect everyone around him, it’s just…after Kerberos…

_“My crew was captured by aliens once. I’m not going to let it happen again.”_

Shiro looks at Keith and promises he’s not going to rest until he makes sure this doesn’t happen again. Keith doesn’t seem to hear him, but Kosmo does.

And with a satisfied grumble, Kosmo turns his head to the side and closes his eyes.

 

 


End file.
